Cloud and AI drive Google forward - shares respond with a sharp rise

Alphabet (Google) saw its stock rise significantly after announcing financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year. The company beat analysts' expectations in both revenue and profit, with its cloud segment and expansion in artificial intelligence the main drivers of growth.

Alphabet $GOOG reported earnings per share of $2.12 and total revenue of $88.27 billion for the third quarter of fiscal year 2023. These results represent year-over-year earnings growth of 37% and revenue growth of 15%. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of around $1.83 and revenue of $86.44 billion, which the company managed to significantly beat.

A major pillar of Google's success has been the continued expansion of its cloud services. Cloud revenue reached $11.4 billion in the third quarter, up 35% year-over-year. In a statement, Google CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized that advanced AI technologies are attracting new clients and driving growth in enterprise business. Pichai noted that this segment…